History

Roslyn Wakari is one of NZ's oldest football clubs. Established in 1888 we were one of the founding clubs in Otago and recently celebrated our 125th Jubilee during Queens Birthday weekend 2013

The club is also one of Otago's largest football clubs enjoying a membership of 580 players. During 2017 this is made up of 10 Senior men’s teams, 4 Women’s teams, and 30 Junior teams. There is a Roslyn Wakari team, sometimes two, competing in every grade of the Dunedin competitions. We are the current holders of the annual Hanlon Shield, an award presented by Football South to the top overall performing Club in Otago. Proudly held by Roslyn a record 20 times (7 times in the previous 10 seasons).

Our Senior Men’s 1st team competes in the Federation 7 Premier Divison and our Women’s 1st team have won the Women’s Premier league 5 times in the past 9 seasons.

National recognition for RWAFC players has included nine All Whites while playing for Roslyn. The club supplied four players in the original 1904 New Zealand team.

Our clubs objective is to always promote the enjoyment of playing football across all ages and we welcome all enquires from like minded people wishing to join us.

Our home, Ellis Park, has three competition grounds, two specialist training areas and an indoor gymnasium. The clubrooms were refurbished in 2009 and now boasts first class bar and food facilities that are available for Hire.

Thank you for taking the time and for further information on any RWAFC matter please contact us.

A Brief History

The clubs history starts back in 1888 when the Wakari Football Association team played in the first local Dunedin league. This was only 44 years after the foundation of Dunedin. The Wakari AFC consisted of 14 members with 11 or 12 playing members. The first committee included Sir Robert Stout (Premier of NZ 1884 – 1897) as its President. The club obtained a farmers paddock and a ditch was dug as the perimeter for the pitch, outside the ditch the ball was out. In 1890 the Wakari AFC changed its name to Roslyn AFC. In 1895 the Roslyn AFC split into two clubs with the second becoming Wakari AFC. The next ten years saw friendly rivalry between the two clubs as they competed for the “Otago Banner”. In 1904 the two clubs amalgamated to become Roslyn Wakari AFC. The club went into recess from 1915 until 1929 when they re-entered the Otago Football Association competition.

The home ground for the club is Ellis Park in Kaikorai Valley. From 1897 the clubs home ground was the Asylum Ground (now Littlebourne) on the south side of Stuart Street. The ground was levelled and drained by the inmates from the Dunedin Asylum. In 1912 the ground was allocated jointly to the Boys High School and the Football Association and in the following year the Roslyn Wakari Football Club was permitted to build a pavilion (which didn't go ahead due to the outbreak of WW1). Roslyn Wakari AFC shifted its activities to Ellis Park when the ground was opened in 1929. Ellis Park was developed from a site in Kaikorai Valley beside the Arthur Ellis mills and includes areas once used as an open-air swimming pool and an old tip site. The swimming pool closed in 1950 and this area is now the training ground above the present clubrooms.

In 1949 a "new" 2 storey clubhouse was developed incorporating the old stables that had housed the horses that pulled carts to the tip and also when developing the grounds. The Club adopted the horses head as it's new logo in recognition of this connection. Some of the wood used in modifying the new Clubrooms came from the demolition of the old swimming pool.

The construction of the existing clubrooms, consisting of the lounge and the gymnasium was completed in 1971. The changing sheds and committee room were added soon after. Once the move to the "newest" clubrooms had been made, the old 2 storey clubrooms were put to use by the Roslyn Fire Brigade. The exercise went well.

At the conclusion of the 2009 season the Club began a major refit of the Lounge, kitchen and bar facilities. It is the first full renovation since the move from the Stables and completion of this project, along with the upgrade of No 3 pitch, complimented the hosting of Roslyn Wakari's 125th anniversary celebrations held in 2013.

Chronological History

1888 Wakari Football Association formed.

1890 Changed name to Roslyn Association Football Club

1895 Club split into 2 clubs - Roslyn AFC and Wakari AFC

1904 The 2 clubs amalgamated into Roslyn Wakari AFC

1915 to 1929 Club goes into recess. (WWI)

1929 Club re-enters competition and moves to the newly opened Ellis Park.